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Ford’s New Ultimate Parking Machine

In the Ford system, sensors will identify a parking space and then advise the driver about the proximity of other cars and objects through visual and audible cues.

The fine art of parallel parking might be one step closer to extinction.

Two years ago, Lexus introduced what it calls the advanced parking guidance system, which theoretically enabled the Lexus LS 460L to parallel-park itself along any prime patch of empty curb.

The system was far from perfect. In his review of the LS 460L for The New York Times, Lawrence Ulrich wrote:

In practice, the system often took multiple tries over several minutes before docking successfully. It struggled to identify curbs and regularly asked me to realign the car before trying to park. The parking space has to be huge, at least five feet longer than the car, calling the entire exercise into question. And the system shuts down if you back up too fast.

Needless to say, the excitement came and went.

Now Ford is having a go at the trick with Active Park Assist, which will soon be available on two Lincoln vehicles.

Active Park Assist uses an ultrasonic-based sensing system and electric power-assisted steering to work its magic. Ford said its system also works on hills.

With sensors on the front and rear of the vehicle, the system identifies a parking space. While parking, the system advises the driver about the proximity of other cars and objects through visual or audible cues, or both. The driver can interrupt the automated procedure at any time.

The sensors used for the system also have other functions. For example, a sensor on the outboard rear quarter panel also monitors a blind spot area (part of the Blind Spot Information System) while helping detect cross traffic when backing out of a parking spot (Cross Traffic Alert).

Active Park Assist will be available as an option on the 2010 Lincoln MKS sedan in the middle of next year and will also be available on the MKT crossover, which will be introduced at the Detroit auto show next month.

If you can’t parallel park your car you shouldn’t be driving. Period, end of story. Auto manufactures take the money you put into crap like this and get me better milage. Make me a car that’s small enough to park easily????????? DOH! This is amazing that immediately after receiving bail out money you go right back to the same tired old routine. Build me a quality small car, because you know what, my 9 year old Honda Civic gets 34 mpg city/hwy and even at 67 I don’t have one whit of a problem parallel parking it.

This is EXACTLY what’s wrong with car manufacturers today. They spend ridiculous sums on developing ridiculous features for people too lazy to do things themselves. Spend the R&D money on developing a light weight, fun to drive, 45 mpg car, not gizmos that mean nothing.

They should have used the money wasted on making corny bourgeois people even lazier and less skillful into producing technologies that would have enabled this company to be more useful in the future.

And considering that the Lincoln line is basically a code for “cars for older people,” is it really a good idea to let people whose drivers’ licenses are becoming increasingly challenged to lose basic driving skills?

I love our country’s short-term memory. I hope some people living in Phoenix or Vegas are writing anti-detroit comments here. Because those cities are in GREAT locations…temperature, access to water. Yep, they’re going to last…NOPE.

Detroit is greater than the race riots, greater than the auto industry and older than your great great great grandparents.

Sure automatic parallel parking is sexy, but why has no one solved the easier (and arguably more useful) problem of making a car that center itself between two parallel lines. Usually if people can’t parallel park they give up and find another place to put their car. But if they make a complete hash out of pulling into a space in a garage or lot they just leave their car where it is.

Or they could just build smaller vehicles, so that even relatively inexperienced drivers could easily parallel park, without any “Active Park Assist”. That would be better for customer wallets, better for the U.S. trade deficit due to oil imports, and better for the planet. But that would probably be less profitable for Ford, which explains why they are instead advancing a complicated and costly technological “solution”.

My mom is 82, she’s not lazy, she’s a competent driver, and she CAN parallel-park. But it’s a painful exercise for her, because it hurts her to twist her torso and neck enough to line up the car. There are millions of people like her, and some of them may pick a Lincoln over import brands specifically to get this feature. Doesn’t seem so dumb to me.

For John (#3) and Mike (#5), Ford has your car too. It’s called the Fiesta and it’s coming as a 2010 model. Notoriously negative Times of London car columnist Jeremy Clarkson gave it one of his ultra-rare five-star ratings. I hope Ford can stay in business long enough to get this one out the door.

It really does beg the question why the auto manufacturers fought tooth and nail against seatbelts in the 60s, catalytic converters in the 70s, fuel economy standards in the 80’s, airbags in the 90’s, yet see it perfectly appropriate to spend precious research dollars on crappy “why-tech” like this. What a waste of time and money.

#13: Understandable concern for your elderly mother’s need to twist to parallel park. If it’s something she has to do regularly, you might consider working through the procedure with her in detail. With correctly adjusted side mirrors, you should have to do no more than rotate your head enough to check your blind spot. All the necessary visual cues come from the mirrors.

#12: As another “advanced PP person” I can relate, nice to be able to brag about it! But shouldn’t there be a better way to train folks for this skill? Where’s the quick and easy online interactive tutorial? If you have the spare time, please do share.

As a born and bred New Yorker, I have only contempt for someone who needs a computer to help parallel park. You only need a spot about six inches longer than your car for a clean parking job, and if you are willing to bump (like on alternate side parking days) then you can often fit into a spot SMALLER than your car.

My god, people outside New York need help parking AND they don’t have decent pizza or bagels. How do they survive?

“My mom is 82, she’s not lazy, she’s a competent driver, and she CAN parallel-park. But it’s a painful exercise for her, because it hurts her to twist her torso and neck enough…”

So exactly how much “why-tech” (love the term!) design would be needed to mount a small video camera & display so she doesn’t have to twist? I think you can buy the system at WalMart for about a hundred bucks…

“The fine art of parallel parking might be one step closer to extinction.”

With all due respect, that statement makes about as much sense as Ford’s “Active Park Assist” feature itself. Parallel parking is an easily acquired skill, not a “fine art”.

I agree with those who say that if you can’t parallel park you either (a) shouldn’t try, (b) get a smaller car, or (c) look for a larger spot.

And, yes, it’s still a familiar feature of the NYS DMV Road Test (though they usually give you enough room to park three cars!).

Once a week I have the joy [sic] of parallel parking my little Subaru Impreza in the Bronx. Many times I’ve pulled up alongside a promising space only to determine that, while someone with better depth perception than I would have no trouble parking, I had to continue searching for something with a bit more leeway.

I’m afraid making it easier to park a car that’s too big in a spot that’s too small says a lot about what’s wrong with Detroit.

anything that speeds up parallel parking in the city is a nice feature. it gets the car out of the ways of the impatient and angry drivers. if it works, it is much more useful than dvd players or sunroofs in the cars. if it works, it also shows that Ford can do a better job than Toyota. it’s a practical feature and not just an ornamental useless addition like fog lights, spoilers or extra molding that many people, maybe even some of the whiners here, get on their cars.

Amazing how many Luddites read the NYT. I’m sure many of you prefer crank-starting your car, shifting gears manually, whistling to yourself in place of an in-dash sound system and avoiding A/C completely, but some of us like those new-fangledy gizmos. I agree with #13– if you don’t want this feature, don’t buy it.

“Now Ford is having a go at the trick with Active Park Assist, which will soon be available on two Lincoln vehicles. Active Park Assist uses an ultrasonic-based sensing system and electric power-assisted steering to work its magic.”

Magic? The Big Three are collapsing and this is what Ford comes up with? Why didn’t they put the talents of the engineers who developed this to work on something useful* ~ such as improving mileage and reducing emissions.

I bet this system doesn’t even work with a manual transmission ~ which is what real drivers use. Drivers who actually know how to parallel park.

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* Something useful would be how to keep big SUV’s from blocking your vision when backing out of a diagonal parking space. It always seems that whenever I park in a diagonal slot, when I come back there will be a pair of big SUVs on either side that mean I have to back up blind (and very slowly) into traffic, or have my wife get out of the car and stand lookout while I back out.

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